1.0 Introduction
Starting out as a management concept, CSR is now vital in every decision a business makes as it is believed to be the true manner in which a business should conduct itself (Environics International, 2001, cited in Sepahvand, 2015, p.9). The purpose of this report is to provide a discussion on Corporate Social Responsibility and also identify the benefits and challenges brought upon an organisation. Firstly, the author will give a brief introduction to the company, Elephant House. Secondly, the analysis will examine various definitions pertaining to CSR.
Moving on, the author will define a stakeholder and list their types. Furthermore, the responsibilities of an organisation towards its stakeholders will be highlighted in a table. In addition, the importance of performing CSR will be analysed along with the advantages and examples of CSR practices at Elephant House. Finally, the author will provide the challenges in practicing CSR.
2.0 Analysis
2.1 Company Background
The Ceylon Cold Stores PLC, better known as Elephant House was formed in the year 1866 as the Colombo Ice Company (Ceylon Cold Stores PLC, 2010). In addition, Elephant House being the leading Sri Lankan brand in producing Ice cream also manufactures other products such as carbonated soft drinks and caffeine based drinks (Ceylon Cold Stores PLC, 2010). Furthermore,
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Ceylon Cold Stores PLC (2013) states that Elephant House practices CSR by reducing their carbon footprint while preserving and treating water. Therefore, Lemon et al. (2011) sees this as a benefit to the company as it makes production much efficient and effective. Further, it helps minimise cost, boosts stakeholder confidence and helps allocate resources in a timely manner whilst conserving and protecting the environment (Ceylon Cold Stores,
The purpose of this essay is to research the notion of CSR and uncover its true framework and outline what social responsibility truly means to corporate organisations, and whether it should be seriously considered to be a legitimate addition to the corporate framework of an organisation.
In this review, the primary subject is the ‘business case’ for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The business
Based on my interpretation of CSR, I see it as a voluntary obligation that companies have promised to their stakeholders to fulfill by improving, or at least not harm, the environmental and social wellbeing. When companies engage in CSR, they voluntarily promise to, for example, carry the responsibility to protect the environment and take actions against bribe or other corruptive activities related to their business. It certainly has some positive influences to specific areas based on my knowledge gained from other classes; nevertheless, when judge CSR in the context of total impacts on our society and environment, it is obvious that CSR has failed its mission to lessen the negative impacts of business based on the evidences that provided by the author. Also, since there is a strong positive relationship between CSR behaviors and consumers’ reactions to a firm’s products and services, it seems to me, now, that CSR for the most companies is just a fancy cover that helps them to create or promote a good image and reputation. The recent case that shows the failure of CSR of Volkswagen even make me believe that CSR programs may be just a marketing or public relation exercise for many
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.
In this article, “The Truth About CSR,” authors Rangan, Chase and Karim stress the importance in aligning a company’s social and environmental activities with its business purpose and values (Rangan, Chase, & Karim, 2015, 41). Outcomes of CSR programs should be a “spillover” and not a primary focus of a business, expressing concern towards social responsibility and corporations failing to contribute to society accordingly (Rangan, Chase, Karim, 2015, 42). There is a great deal of importance in companies refocusing their CSR activities on a primary goal and in providing an organized process for bringing consistency and discipline to CSR strategies (42). Rangan, Chase and Karim want corporations to understand why it is important for them to evaluate their CSR activities and refocus them towards the goal of reinforcing the firm’s societal and environmental actions, while also ensuring their actions add to the overall purpose and values of the corporation. According to the authors, even though
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship and responsible business) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking
Background to CSR - In this environment, the impact of behaviour, values and ethics on achieving a company's strategic vision represents a timely and valuable undertaking. This behaviour, often called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a new focus on ethical and social issues (Sen & Bhattacharya 2001). CSR leads marketers to the notion of both global and stakeholder responsibility, and an organizational system that begs for sustainability not just to outlast the competition, but to increase customer loyalty, presence in the global market, and a stronger unification with the political bureaucracies. There is a clear integrative framework involved that impacts the idea of sustainable marketing concepts (Maignan & Ferrell 2004). Indeed, at the same time, "culture" has changed, too; there is likely not a country in the
Although there is substantial variation in the environment and the corporate approaches that reflected in the literature, interest in the field that shows the poised to stimulates the further research and to provide both researchers and CSR practitioner some valuable direction for reflection and action.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – is a set of commitments, corresponding to the specificity and level of development of the company, whish is reviewed regularly and dynamically changing. CSR is voluntarily and agreed with the participation of key stakeholders, taken by the company’s management, with particular reference to the views of staff and shareholders. It is performed in mainly at the expense of the company and aimed at the realization of significant internal and external social programs, the results of which contribute to the development of the company (production growth, improving the quality of
The Company firmly believes that CSR is primarily, the responsibility of the Company in relation to the impact of its decisions and activities on the society and also the Environment, through a transparent and ethical behavior which is:
Through globalization the gap between the rich and poor has increased, while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. This can be one of the many reasons why companies choose to be more social responsible as CSR aims to reduce conflicts between stakeholders. Although, individuals are aware that more companies are producing social responsible goods, companies can benefit from CSR practices in different ways. When companies decide to be socially and environmentally active, not only will the society and the environment benefit from the companies ethical practices, but they can also differentiate themselves in today's competitive market.
CSR ARE A COMPANY’S FRAMEWORK WITH EXPECTATIONS AND DEMANDS OF STAKEHOLDERS-NOT ONLY CUSTOMERS AND INVESTOR, BUT SUPPLIERS, EMPLOYEES AND SOCIETY ( BEAL, 2013)
Businesses can use CSR and corporate sustainability to produce direct benefits for the bottom line. For example, operational efficiencies can be achieved through reducing energy and materials as input factors for production. Wastes can also be reduced and materials can be recycled. These sorts of actions from eco-efficiency can produce concurrent environmental and economic benefits for
Leading community businesses and governments admit Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as an official policy objective. Those companies who apply CSR are able to maintain sustainable progress. This development covers social, economic and environmental influence in how they run (Clegg, 2011, p. 216). Three areas are the bases of the triple bottom line (TBL) approach (Elkington, 1994). CSR itself has various meaning but in more simple way it can be defined as firms’ obligation to act ethically and to facilitate elaboration. Thereby they try to make employees’ life better and likewise help to demonstrate a positive impact on local society. Therefore businesses are responsible for two factors of how they operate. Firstly, they should be concerned about the quality of management including people and operations. Secondly, they have to consider the character and amount of their effect on community in different fields. External stakeholders take a huge concern on how an organisation acts whether they perform well in their products, services, and society or not. Moreover they take an interest in how they care towards the workforce (Baker, 2004). The following paper demonstrates the major reasons of why businesses should take CSR seriously and what advantages does CSR have when they use it. First aspect will be related to reputation and brand image. Then it will be followed by strategy of cost reduction. Third aspect will explain the approaches to gain a competitive
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of self regulation integrated into the business model of organizations. Organizations have responsibility for the impact of their activities on the society, environment, employees and members of the public sphere which cannot be denied. The progress of the concept of CSR is elevating to the highest pedestal of importance in all aspects of production and business both private and public.CSR is a much known concept in present world and many corporate giants are conversant with it as it provides better synergy returns to the business. Moreover CSR is becoming a very important activity to organizations nationally as well as internationally. The increase in globalization has given birth to large corporations which serve as global providers and have recognised the importance and benefits of providing CSR programs hence CSR activities are now being undertaken throughout the globe. The rationale for CSR is stated in number of ways its core is about building sustainable businesses with healthy communities, markets and economies which again necessitates carrying out CSR activities. The government has declared it compulsory for organizations to be socially responsible (chakraborty 2010).Non government organizations (NGO) are